The Federal Aviation Administration is reviewing the amount of air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and hiring more supervisors.
The initiatives are being taken in light of the Jan. 29 collision between an American Airlines flight on its way to landing at the airport and a U.S. military helicopter that killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft.
The FAA is planning to increase the number of operational supervisors at the air traffic control tower from six to eight, do a review of how many controllers are on the staff at Reagan National, have a critical incident stress management team visit staffers in the early part of this month to see how they are holding up and do regular wellness checks at the airport.
The agency also wants to look into how many aircraft arrive at the airport per hour. Currently, arrivals are concentrated in the back halves of each hour.
Scrutiny toward the airport has increased following the January disaster.
A Reagan National air traffic controller, Damon Gaines, 39, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was arrested and charged with assault and battery recently for his alleged role in a fight among staff that, an unnamed source told the Daily Mail, left blood spattered over the control console.
“I’ve heard of controllers going at it in the parking lot, but this was on a whole new level. That facility is out of control. People are cracking because of what happened in January,” the source added.
Other changes the FAA has made in nearby airspace, on the recommendation of the National Transportation Safety Board, include restricting nonessential helicopter flights nearby and banning the simultaneous flying of choppers and planes in that airspace. Helicopters on urgent business, such as transporting the president, will be kept away from planes.
In addition, the FAA is prohibiting the use of the 15/33 and 4/22 runways at Reagan National while helicopters are on urgent business in the area, and has closed an air route between Hains Point at the southern tip of East Potomac Park in the District of Columbia and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
The Army’s Black Hawk helicopter involved in the Jan. 29 collision was flying the now-defunct Route 4 at the time of the crash.
